Gravity
by AG-GP
Summary: An important person from some of the glee members past has come back to Lima. I'm horrible at summaries, my apologies. Puck/OC
1. Chapter 1

**So, I've had this story floating around in my head for quite some time. I realize not everyone is big on original characters, but I love Aly, she just wouldn't leave me alone. Anyway, this starts half way through season two, during the Sue Sylvester Shuffle. Everything is the same up until then, but after will be AU. **

**I have no Beta, so if anyone is interested, or if you would just like to leave a comment, I'd love to hear from you. Thanks!**

* * *

She walks down the crowded halls of William Mckinley High School, one hand wrapped around the strap of her messenger bag, the other clutching the scrap of paper with her locker number and combination. 247... 248...249...

"Aly G!" A familiar voice says excitedly causing her to stop mid-step and look up.

"Mikey!" Aly responds with just as much enthusiasm, hugging him quickly before stepping back to look at the locker he's blocking. 256, her locker. Smiling she realizes, "He gave you my locker number and told you to wait for me here for me didn't he?

"How'd you know, have you seen him yet? Or anyone else?" Mike asks as Aly pushes past him to open her locker.

"You're the first one I've seen. The two of you are the only ones that know I'm back. We didn't get to the house until around 9 last night and I spent 3 hours unpacking and talking to him on the phone. He said he'd leave me a surprise outside my locker. I'm guessing you're the surprise." She says, pulling her locker open to find a 'Welcome Home' sign hanging from a hook on the back wall.

"Looks like someone's been busy this morning. Why didn't he meet you here himself? Actually I'm kinda surprised he wasn't waiting outside your front door." Mike jokes watching over Aly's shoulder with a smile as a cute Asian girl makes her way toward them down the hall.

"He said something about wanting to get here early so he could hit the weight room before class. I probably won't see him until glee, but apparently you and I have almost all the same classes." She says smirking, just as the girl Mike had been watching stops at his shoulder.

"Morning," he says smiling down at her. She smiles back, but then turns to give Aly the once over.

"Who's this?" the girl asks, not unkindly, but with a definite edge. Mike just rolls his eyes.

"Tina, this is Aly. I've known her since I was 4. We used to live in the same neighborhood, but she moved to Iowa when we were 8. Her family just moved back." Mike explains.

"Its nice to finally meet you Tina, Mike has been talking about you non-stop for the past seven months."

"You guys kept in touch?" Tina asks surprised, "Why have I never heard about her?" Mike just shrugs.

"Don't be upset with him, he's not the only one I kept in touch with, and none of them talk about me either. I'm kind of like a weird secret." Aly explains stashing her coat in her locker then shutting it, "I believe we need to be getting to History. Lead the way, Changster."

* * *

Surprisingly Aly made it through history, chemistry, and trig without causing too much of a stir. She and Mike did get a funny look from Brittany between second and third period, but Mike was pretty sure it was because Brittany thought Aly was actually Tina and couldn't figure out why she looked so different. It wasn't until American Lit that another glee member seemed to notice Mike had a new friend.

"Hi, I'm Quinn Fabray. You're new here right?" The pretty blond sitting in front of Aly introduces herself, turning in her seat.

"Yeah, it's my first day. I'm Aly Grey." From the corner of her eye, Aly could see Mike, sitting on her left, go completely still. "Quinn Fabray... that name sounds familiar, you kind of look familiar too, have we met before?" Mike wasn't still anymore. His mouth was hanging open and his right eye was twitching.

"I don't think so, but I am head Cheerio, all our competitions are televised, maybe thats why I look familiar."

"No... I don't watch cheerleading-"

"I probably told you about her," Mike practically shouts. "Quinn is in glee too, I'm sure I mentioned her once or twice." He finally snapped out of whatever horror induced twitching he was stuck in and was now giving Aly a look that clearly said _what the HELL are you doing?_

"Oh, you two know each other?" asks Quinn, confused.

"Yeah, we kinda grew up together," Aly replies just as the bell rang and Quinn turned back around in her seat as class started.

* * *

Mike had Aly by the arm and was dragging her out into the hall as soon as class was over. "What the heck was that, Aly?" he hisses at her.

"Don't look at me like that, Mike. Do you have any idea how badly I wanted to slap her across her pretty little face?" She fumes following Mike down the hall toward the choir room. "I'm Quinn Fabray, I'm head Cheerio, I destroy lives." Aly says imitating Quinn.

Stopping just outside the door to the choir room, Mike levels her with a sympathetic look, "She's not really like that, Al, not anymore. Try to give her a chance." He waits for Aly to nod before opening the door. They get to the middle of the room before they hear a high pitch shriek and a small body slams into Aly.

"Rach? Rachel, I'm happy to see you too, but I need to breathe." Aly wheezes, hugging Rachel back while trying to loosen her grip at the same time.

"Why didn't you tell us you were going to be here?" says a male voice from the other side of the room.

"It was supposed to be a surprise, Finn, and judging by Rachel's death grip, I think it worked." Aly laughs as Rachel finally untangles herself and steps back to give Finn room to get a hug in too.

"Hudson!" shouts a deep voice from the doorway behind Aly, "unless you want a black eye, I suggest you take your hand off of her." Finn puts his hand in the air and takes a step back as everyone in the room goes silent with confusion. Aly turns around to see Puck walking toward her, a smirk on his face.

"And who exactly do you think you are to tell my _friend_ not to touch me?" Aly asks scathingly. Puck just shrugs in response, stepping close enough to grab her hand and pull her into him.

"Me? I'm the most important person in your life." he says smirking, before cupping her face with one hand and smashing his lips against hers.


	2. Chapter 2

The room erupted. There was cheering and catcalls (Mike and Rachel), screamed threats in English _and_ Spanish (Santana), and a thousand questions all being asked at the same time.

"The most important person in my life, huh?" She says when he pulls back just far enough to rest his forehead against hers, "Pretty sure thats the cheesiest thing you've ever said to me."

"S'true, though, right?" He says, laughing when she rolls her eyes. Pulling back the rest of the way, he shrugs his bag from his shoulder and reaching into the back, pulls out a gray McKinley football sweatshirt, "I remembered to bring it like you asked." She snatches it from his out stretched hand and holds it up to her face, inhaling deeply .

"It smells like you again," smiling she pulls it over head and pushes her hands through the sleeves.

"Woah, hey! What is going on in here?" Mr. Shuester asks, concerned with all the shouting still taking place in the room. Everyone quiets down for the most part, half of the club not able to answer his question with more than a finger pointed in Aly and Puck's direction.

"Mr. Shuester, I'm Aly Grey, I'm new." She says when the teacher turns to give her with a questioning look.

"We know you're new. How about you answer a more pressing question like, what the hell is going?" Santana cuts in before Shue has a chance to respond.

"Right. Okay, maybe I should just start at the beginning and then if you all still have questions I'll try to answer them when I'm done." She looks to Mr. Shue for permission, and he nods, still looking thoroughly confused. Taking a deep breath, she opens her mouth to start when she feels Puck leave her side and turns to see him taking a step back to lean against the piano, leaving her to stand alone in the middle of the room. "Coward," she mutters to him, turning back around. "Alright, here goes. I've known Puck my whole life, we were next door neighbors and our moms took turns babysitting so they both had a little time to themselves. We've been best friends since before we could crawl. Mike moved into a house down the street when we were four; he used to come play with us a lot. Finn lived a couple streets over, so we didn't meet him until we were five maybe, and our moms started taking us to the local playground so Puck would stop destroying my backyard. And Rachel, do you remember when Rachel showed up?" She turns back to ask Puck.

"Hell if I remember, I try to block that shit out," he cocks his head to the left a little to think, ignoring the indignant look Rachel was giving him. "Six or seven maybe."

"Right, so, we met Rachel at the JCC when we were six or seven. She was the only other little girl there that didn't seem afraid of all the havoc he caused," she says hooking her thumb over her shoulder to point at Puck.

"You're jewish too?" Sam asks.

"Messianic Jew, yes," she nods.

"Means she's a Jew for Jesus," Pucks informs them when he notices several blank faces.

"Anyway, my dad got a promotion at work that meant he also got transferred right before we started third grade. So I moved to Iowa, but I still have family here, and friends, so we always came back for Thanksgiving and Christmas break, and I spent at least a month here every summer. And I made sure I was here for anything important, like your invitational last fall, and all of your competitions since, well, except Regionals last year. I had a school thing in Chicago I couldn't get out of going to. When Dad got promoted again in December his job became like 60% traveling and everything else can be done through video conference and email, so we moved back." Finished she looks around at all of them, waiting for the inevitable questions.

"So, what was with the kissing?" Mercedes throws out.

Puck steps up to her side then and squeezes her hand once. "We're together," they say at the same time.

"Since when?" Someone else asks.

Before either of them can answer Rachel speaks up, "That question has a very complicated answer, and I, personally, feel we could be using our time here in a much more productive manner than quizzing Puck and Aly on their relationship status. Let's just welcome Aly into the club and move on."

"No," Santana cuts in again before Shue has a chance, "I want proof she can sing."

"Santana, that really isn't necessary," Shue starts.

"No, Mr. Shuester, it's fine, I don't mind," she assures him, then turning around to see Brad sitting at the piano she asks, "May I?" Brad nods and stands, walking to stand against the wall, out of the way. Handing her bag to Puck she sits at the piano and begins to play. Tentative at first, just getting a feel for the keys. Every instrument is a little different and she wants to make sure she knows this one before she starts. She closes her eyes, takes a deep breath and lets go.

_Something always brings me back to you  
__It never takes too long  
__No matter what I say or do, I still feel you here 'till the moment I'm gone  
_

_You hold me without touch  
__You keep me without chains  
__I never wanted anything so much than to drown in your love and not feel your rain_

_Set me free, leave me be. I don't want to fall another moment into your gravity  
__Here I am and I stand so tall, just the way I'm supposed to be  
__But you're on to me and all over me_

_You loved me 'cause I'm fragile  
__When I thought that I was strong  
__But you touch me for a little while and all my fragile strength is gone_

_Set me free, leave me be. I don't want to fall another moment into your gravity  
__Here I am and I stand so tall, just the way I'm supposed to be  
__But you're on to me and all over me_

_I live here on my knees as I  
__Try to make you see that you're  
__Everything I think I need here on the ground  
__But you're neither friend nor foe though I  
__Can't seem to let you go  
__The one thing that I still know is that you're keeping me down_

_You're keeping me down, yeah, yeah, yeah  
__You're onto me, onto me and all over_

_Something always brings me back to you  
__It never takes too long_

Opening her eyes, she looks around at mostly dumbfounded faces, with the exception of Rachel, who is beaming at her in understanding, and Puck, who looks slightly confused.

"That was fantastic, Aly, but I've never heard that song before," Shuester praises looking a little lost.

"That's because no one's heard it before, Shue, she wrote it. Didn't you?" Puck says knowingly. When she nods in response he asks, "When?"

"I finished it a little before Christmas," She inclines her head a little toward the other side of the room where Rachel and Finn, two rows behind her, are sitting. The confusion that was on Puck's face at the end of her song clears as he realizes she wrote it for Rachel. She stands and walks over to take the seat next to Puck as Shuester starts rambling on about the half-time show they're doing for the big game that night.

* * *

**AN: **So, I took a little creative license there. The song that Aly sings is really _Gravity_ by Sara Bareilles.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **I apologize for the delay. And because Dalonega Noquisi asked there is a little bit of a description of Aly in this chapter, but I'll give you a little more.  
She's about 5'5", long auburn hair (with bangs) that hits about half way down her back, gray eyes. She's not super girlie, usually she dresses in Converse, jeans and humorous t-shirts.

* * *

"Aly, can you hang back for a second?" Shuester asked after the bells rings.

"Uh, sure. What can I do for you Mr. Shue?" She responded glancing at Puck who is standing, unmoving, in the doorway.

"I was impressed with the song you performed today, and I was wondering if you played any other instruments or could write for something other than the piano?"

"I play guitar too, which is pretty easy to write for; Finn tried to teach me the drums once," She laughs a little and looks at Puck, "but that didn't end well."

"She hit the snare twice before my fist hit his face," Puck explained when he sees the confusion on Shue's face. "Kid never could keep his hands to himself."

"And after last year you no longer have the right to point that out," then turning back to face the teacher, "I'd be more than happy to help out anytime you need some to play for glee, or if you needed something written. I may not know the drums real well, but Finn could help with that."

"Thank you, Aly, I'd appreciate it." Shuester nodded, then headed out the door not currently being blocked by Puck.

"Lunch?" Puck asked tilting his head in the direction of the cafeteria. She nodded, but he grabbed her arm to stop her when she started to head in the opposite direction. "Foods this way, Babe."

"I know, No'. I have to stop at my locker first to drop off some of these books, otherwise my shoulder is going to dislocate. I'll meet you there, save me a seat." Turning on her heel she took off toward her locker before he could respond. But when she turned the corner and her locker came in to view she spotted a blond Cheerio waiting for her.

"What can I do for you, Quinn?" she asked on a sigh as she turned the combination lock.

"I had his baby last spring." Quinn blurted out effectively stopping Aly in her tracks and causing her eyes to widen slightly, "Sorry, thats, I mean...What I meant was, if you two are such good friends, why have I never seen or heard about you? We had a baby last year, did he even tell you about that? He really could have used a friend, and if you really are that close, where were you?"

"You do not want to have this conversation with me, Quinn." Aly said carefully, returning to emptying her bag. Quinn made no move to leave or change topics, so she relented. "Fine. Yes, Quinn, of course I know about Beth. I knew about her before almost anyone else, and I was in the hospital when she was born." Quinn looked surprised and almost disbelieving, so Aly explained before she can be called a liar. "I was in Chicago on a school trip that I couldn't get out of, but I had taken to driving myself everywhere so that if you did go into labour early I wouldn't have to waste time getting here. Mike called me that second your water broke. I committed every traffic violation possible between Chicago and Lima, and I made it here in two hours. I was walking into the waiting room as the rest of the glee club was walking out. I saw her, I was with Puck when he signed away his rights, and I know how much it killed him to do it.

Taking a breath she pulled a photo from a pocket on the front of her bag and held it up for Quinn before continuing, "You lived with him for months, are you honestly telling me you've never seen me?" Quinn examined the children in the photo for a minute; a little girl with gray eyes and long auburn hair sitting on a piano bench with her arm around a little boy with a mohawk and a gap in his smile where his two front teeth should be, holding a tiny guitar.

"You're the little girl." Quinn whispered. "I always wondered."

"There are pictures of me all over the Puckerman house. You have seen me before. As for why you've never heard about me, well... Puck loves me, he always has, and I'm not saying this makes any sense, but he doesn't like to talk about me around people who have never met me because our relationship isn't something thats easily explained or understood. You kind of just have to see us together. Mike, Rachel, and Finn keep quiet about me because it's easier for Puck that way, though I'm surprise his mom or Becca never said anything about me while you were there.

" And you, of all people, do not get to tell me that I should have been there for him. I _was_ there. Every. Time. Remember the day you called him a Lima Loser and told him that you would never let him anywhere near his child? He showed up on my doorstep that night, the same expression on his face as the day his dad left. The only reason I haven't bitch slapped you yet is because Mike says you've changed and I should give you a chance. You and I will never be friends, Quinn. It has nothing to do with the fact that you got pregnant, and everything to do with how you treated him afterward." With that Aly slammed her lock shut and began to walk away.

"Aly," Quinn called; she stopped but didn't turn around, "just a word of advice, wa-"

"Watch out for Santana. I know."

* * *

Aly finally made it to the cafeteria and spotted Puck at a table on the other side of the room with Mike, Tina, Artie and Brittany. She was weaving her way between the tables and had made it half way across the room when one of the larger football players grabbed her wrist and pulled her to a stop.

"Hey, New Girl. I just wanted to let you know I was available to show you around town sometime, if you know what I mean. Names Azimio." He said looking her up and down.

"You're Azimio?" Aly asked sweetly, pulling her wrist away and sizing up the kid sitting to Azimio's left, "That must mean you're Karofsky, right?"

"She's heard of us already," Azimio grinned at Karofsky, then turned back to her. "So what do you say, you need a tour guide?"

"Sorry boys," She smirked, using one hand to twist her long hair up onto her head as the other pulled the hood of her sweatshirt up so that the number 20 stitched along the edge was visible right above her face, "I'm already spoken for." Then she turned so that the _Puckerman_ written across her back was in plain view, and sauntered the rest of the way across the room to the sound of the whole table of football players groaning.

"_Damn_, Puckerman works fast."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **Once again, I just want to say, this story has no beta, so any mistakes are mine and I apologize in advance. Also, thank you for the lovely reviews so far, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one enjoying Aly.

* * *

"Hey, Baby Girl, what took you so long?" Puck asked when Aly finally made it to their table and sat down.

"Ran into Quinn in the hall," she answered setting her bag on the floor next to her chair and pulling out her lunch. Everyone at the table went quiet, Mike looked concerned, but Puck was simply waiting for her to continue. "She didn't seem to believe the story I told in glee, so I had to give her a little more proof. I honestly thought when she heard my name and then saw us together she'd be able to figure out who I was, but she really had no idea. I get that you never mention me, but she lived with you, did your mom and Becca really not say anything about me the entire time? And she never asked about all the pictures?"

He just laughs and shakes his head a little, "I think she did ask once who the girl in the photos was, Becca told her 'family' and left it at that. Becs doesn't like Quinn, like at all, so there was no way she was gonna bother explaining who you really were, she spent as little time around Quinn as possible. And I don't know what Ma's deal was, but whenever you were mentioned she'd refer to you as Amanda. I think she just did it cause she knew it pissed me off."

Mike and Aly glanced at each other and both started laughing so hard they were crying, Puck was mumbling curses under his breath and Tina and Artie were looking more confused than ever. Brittany, of course, was off in her own world.

"Wait," Tina said once Mike and Aly had calmed down enough to hear her, "why Amanda?"

"Cause thats her real name." Mike said as if that explained everything instead of just confusing them further.

"When I was little, like super little, everyone called me Mandy, which I _hated_. I am so not a Mandy. So when I was 5 or 6 I finally told them all to stop, no one was allowed to call me that anymore. But I didn't really like Amanda either, and there was a kid in our kindergarden class that went by his initials, PJ or something like that. I figured if he could do that then so could I, but my first two initials were A. L., which actually spelled a name. I told everyone they had to call me Al or I wouldn't respond. It turned into to Aly because someone," she turns to glare at Puck, "said that Al was a boy's name and there 'ain't no way I'ma let you have a boy name'. I'm pretty sure my parents only went along with it because they thought it would last a week and I'd forget about it, but it stuck, for the most part."

"Still think it's stupid," Puck grumbles.

"Right, and Puck is just the coolest name ever," Aly threw back bumping her shoulder against his lightly. "He _still_ refuses to call me Aly, and it's funny that Mrs. P was calling me Amanda, because no one has ever called me that except Puck, and he only does that when he's super pissed at me."

"Then what does Puck call you?" Artie asked.

"Baby Girl," Brittany said matter-of-factly shrugging when she realized everyone was staring at her. "The was he said it when she sat down was like it was her name, not an endowment."

"Endearment. She meant endearment." Artie said.

"Well, she's right," Aly said surprised. "No one's ever picked up on that before. Anyway, enough about me, I feel like thats all I've been talking about all day. Tell me more about the game tonight. Why are the girls playing? I'm sure Rachel explained it to me on the phone the other night, but she had been rambling for a while and I think I blocked most of it out."

* * *

The rest of the day passed without incident, though she did catch Santana shooting her dirty looks a few times. This didn't really concern her much; from what Aly had been told of Santana she seemed to merely be a female version of Puck. Assuming Santana could get over the delusion that she held some claim to Puck, Aly was sure they would end up being good friends. But those were thoughts for another day, now she was at the piano in the choir room working on a melody that had popped into her head during Spanish, and waiting for Kurt to meet her so they could head out to the game together.

Meeting Kurt had been something of happy accident. During one of her visits last spring she and Puck had taken Becca out to Breadstix and unexpectedly run into the Hudson-Hummel clan on one of their family dinner nights. Aly had tried to slip past their table without being noticed, but Carol saw her and called out to her before she had a chance to get away. She had spent quite a bit of time with Kurt that visit, explaining everything and asking him not to mention it to anyone else and they had been friends ever since.

When Aly heard that Kurt was going to be at the game that night, and that he was bringing his hot new friend Blaine, she stole Puck's phone and sent Kurt a text telling him that he needed to go to the choir room before the game. Now all she had to do was wait.

"What exactly did Puck leave for you?" Aly heard an unfamiliar voice ask.

"Who knows, it could be anything. Chances are Aly sent something for me and he didn't want to be seen giving me whatever it is," Kurt replied opening the door to the choir room and stopping dead in his tracks.

"He'd never actually _give_ me to you, but he might loan me out for a while," Aly said, her back to the door as she hit a few keys on the piano then scribbled down a string of notes on her semi-blank sheet music. Setting down her pencil she spun around on the bench to face them with a smirk on her face, "Surprise! Come the rest of the way into room and introduce me to your attractive new friend."

Kurt choked on a laugh and did as he was told, "Aly Grey, this is Blaine Anderson. Blaine, Aly."

"Right, Puck's pseudo girlfriend. I've heard a lot about you," Blaine nodded.

"Puck's pseudo- What have you been telling him?" Aly asked amused, but Kurt was looking anywhere but at her. "You know he'd kill you if he knew you squealed. Not that it matters much now. And to set the record straight, I'm his _actual_ girlfriend, theres nothing pseudo about it."

That got Kurt to look at her again, "Really? But...that means...you moved back! When?"

"Last night. I'll tell you all about it later, but let's head outside, I hear the halftime show is going to be awesome and I want good seats."

* * *

The halftime show was amazing, but the best part was the rest of the football team showing up for the second half. The girls stepped in to take over for the Cheerios who were on their way to a competition, and the team had miraculously managed to win the game; the first championship win for Mckinley High ever. Santana had announced that the after party would be at her house and Aly was waiting next to Puck's truck with Kurt, Blaine, and Rachel for the boys to emerge from the locker room. It had taken some convincing and Aly promising to be Kurt's personal body guard-

Blaine was skeptical at first, "I'm not sure you could actually stop Karofsky if he tried something."

"Do you really think Puck would be OK with me living so far away and not being able to protect myself from guys like Karofsky and Azimio? I've been kick boxing since I was nine. Puck said that if he wasn't around to hand out black eyes for me I needed to be able to do it myself. Trust me, if Dave tries anything, I'll be able to handle it."

-but Kurt had finally agreed to go to the party. Ten minutes later the team finally started to stream out still hooting and hollering about the game. When Puck reached them he threw his bag into the bed of his truck, grabbed Aly around the waist lifting her off the ground and spun around and around causing the group around them to laugh. "We won! Did you see that, Babe, I was fuckin' awesome!"

"Yes, I saw, and I'm so proud of you," She said smiling once he stopped spinning around. Her phone started to ring then and she pecked him quickly on the lips before saying, "Can you put me down now, Noah?" Her feet touched the ground again, but Puck's arms stayed around her as she pulled her phone from her pocket. "It's your mother," she said looking at the screen before answering the call, "Hey, Ma, what's up?... Yeah, we won!... mmhmm, yeah, he's right here... Ok, I'll tell him." Aly pulled the phone from her ear and looked up into Puck's face, "She says you're a putz, and I'm too good for you, and it's 9:30 and someone is asking specifically for you." He made a face when she tried to hand him the phone, "Oh _come on_, Noah. It'll take like three minutes, we'll wait, and I promise I'll do it tomorrow."

Taking the phone from her, he held it up to his ear as he started to walk away from their group, "Alright Ma, put her on..."

"Becca?" Rachel asked.

Aly nodded, and seeing the confusion on Blaine and Kurt's faces explained, "Becca won't sleep unless she hears her song, Rebecca Lynn, it's an old country song. Anyway, Puck usually sings it to her every night, if he's out they call me and I sing it to her over the phone, but tonight calling me meant finding him, and she was asking for him."

"That's actually really sweet," Kurt said.

"Yeah, but he doesn't think so, so don't let him know I told you or I'll get an ear full later."


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: **So sorry its taken so long to update, life got crazy. Also, apologies in advance that this chapter isn't super long, there should be more here, but I wanted to get out what I had finished since you've all been waiting. I promise not to take so long to update next time :)

* * *

It had been a long night and 8:30 was far too early to be up on a Saturday, but Aly was awake now and there was no going back to sleep when Becca had the tv volume up so loud. Skipping down the steps, she grabbed the banister and swung herself off the bottom stair and toward the kitchen. She made it halfway across the kitchen, one hand up rubbing the sleep from her eye, when a voice from the corner caused her to stop short.

"If any other teenage girl came strolling into my kitchen at this hour, wearing a pair of my son's boxers and his ratty old t-shirt, I would be forcibly throwing her from my house." Aly spun on her heel to find Mrs. Puckerman sitting at the kitchen table, one eyebrow raised. "You're lucky I like you so much, Amanda."

Now it was Aly's turn to raise an eyebrow, "The shiksa's gone, Aviva, you can stop cut the 'Amanda' crap now." Aviva simply laughed as Aly turned back around and began pulling things out of the cabinets to make breakfast. "Has Becca eaten yet? I was going to make pancakes."

"No, she's been plopped in front of the television since I came down thirty minutes ago. I take it Noah is still asleep."

"Yeah, he, uh, got away from me a little last night," Aly cringed, her back still to the elder Puckerman as she mixed pancake batter, "he may have had a little more to drink than he should have..."

"How much more?" Aviva asked on a sigh.

"Well, he wasn't throwing up or anything, but I did have to half carry him upstairs. I'm surprised you didn't hear us. He isn't exactly a quiet drunk."

"He knows he has community service today, doesn't he?"

"Yes, but he doesn't have to be at the soup kitchen until 11:30," Aly replied, turning around to face Aviva after pouring the first pancake into the skillet. "And I'm taking Becca shopping while you're at work, right?"

"If you think you're up for it...," Aviva started to say, but stopped at the look Aly was giving her, "You have no idea how happy I am that you're finally home for good, sweetheart. And, yes, you are taking her shopping, specifically for shoes, she burns holes in her sneakers faster than I can buy them."

Either the smell of pancakes or the sound of voices finally broke through the haze both Puckerman children were in. Becca came tearing into the kitchen slamming straight into Aly and wrapping her tiny arms around Aly's waist in a death grip far stronger than any 8-year-old should be capable. Aly simply patted her on the back a few times and continued her work at the stove, much to Mrs. Puckerman's amusement.

"Brat, quit trying to squeeze her to death while she's cooking." Puck commanded a few minutes later as he came shuffling into the room clearly still half asleep. He pried Becca off of Aly and wrapped his own arms around her waist from behind. "Morning, Babe," he mumbled before leaning down and kissing her at the spot where her shoulder met her neck.

"Noah," Aly half whispered, amused, "your mother is sitting at the table right behind us."

Puck jumped back from her as if she had burned him, causing all three girls to laugh out loud. "I hate you all," he muttered before slumping down into an empty chair and scowling at the table.

* * *

"Rebecca Lynne Puckerman, get over here and try these shoes on right now, or I promise when we get home I will tie you to your bed and leave you there for the rest of the day!" The girl had been running up and down every aisle in the store non stop since they got there. "I swear, between you and your brother it is a miracle your mother doesn't have more gray hair," Aly muttered, hooking Becca around the waist the next time she tried to run past, and depositing her on a bench. "What do you think? These cool enough?" She asked holding up a pair of black high top converse sneakers in front of the little girl.

"Are they the _exactly_ the same as yours?"

"Yep."

"Can I get the purple ones too?" Becca asked, cocking her head to the side and blinking up at Aly repeatedly.

"For you? Of course," Aly paused in the process of making sure the shoes fit to glance up and wink at her. "One pair of black and one pair of purple sneakers, you still have everything else you wanted?"

"It's all right here," Becca replied holding up two fists full of clothing. A couple of pairs of jeans in one hand, a sweater and a t-shirt that read "Save the drama for your mama" in the other.

All of Becca's clothes plus the few things Aly picked up for herself totaled close to two hundred dollars, and when she pulled her card out to hand the cashier Becca spoke up. "Aly, didn't Mom give you fifty dollars to pay for my stuff?"

"She did," Aly answered signing the receipt.

"So why did we spend so much more, and why didn't we use her money?"

"Becca," Aly sighed, grabbing their bags and pulling Becca off to the side out of the way of the other shoppers. She crouched down so she could look the younger girl in the eye, "You know my family is kinda rich, right?" She paused, waiting for the nod she got in response, "Okay, so for the past few years, when ever your mom gives me money, to take you shopping or to pay for dinner or whatever, I use my money and put what she gives me in the empty coffee can in the kitchen. You know, the one she puts emergency money in."

"Does Noah know you do that?"

"Yes, he does it too, when he can. But your mom doesn't know, or, well, we don't think she knows. So if she asks how we bought so much stuff today, you tell her we found a really good sale, okay?"

"Got it. Don't worry, Al, I'm real good at keeping secrets, just ask Noah."


	6. Chapter 6

"Aly?" Hearing uncertainty in the unfamiliar voice, Aly stood from where she was crouched in front of Becca and slowly turned around, "It is Aly right?"

"Shelby." Aly nodded in acknowledgement. She would have recognized this woman from their one short meeting in the hospital and her striking resemblance to Rachel, but it was the nine month old baby girl sitting in the stroller in front of her that left her with no doubt. Beth. Aly would know those eyes anywhere, plus the chubby little girl was identical to Becca at that age.

"I'm surprised we ran in to you, are you visiting? I thought you lived in Iowa." Shelby asked sounding cautiously optimistic about the chance meeting.

"Yeah, um, Dad got promoted so we came back. We just moved into a house in Lima Heights a few days ago." Aly responded, not taking her eyes off the baby. She felt Becca shift her weight from behind, trying to get a better look around her.

"Aly," Becca whispered tugging on the sleeve of Puck's hoodie that Aly was wearing, "is that...?" She trailed off and when Aly looked down she was staring at Beth.

"Yeah, kid, that's her." Aly whispered back, then turning her attention back to Shelby, "Puck said you moved away. New York or something?"

Shelby smiled again, but it looked a little strained around the edges, "We did, but it didn't work out. I've just stared teaching vocal and theater class at Lima Community College." She looked like she was about to say more, but stopped when she realized Becca had been slowly inching closer to Beth until Aly grabbed her by the back of her jacket and held her in place. "It's okay," she said, looking first at Aly and then Becca, "she's a very friendly baby, she doesn't scare easy, you can come say hi to her if you'd like." Becca looked up at Aly for permission. Aly eyed Shelby for a moment, then looked back at Becca and nodded. The little girl wasted no time, she scrambled over to the strolled and kneeled down in front of the smiling baby.

"Hi, Beth," Becca whispered, "I'm your Aunt Becca, I'm sorry I didn't come to the hospital to see you when you were born, but nobody would let me. You're really cute you know, you're lucky you look a lot like me." Becca continued to talk to Beth, but Aly had to close her eyes and try to block it all out. This wasn't fair. There was a reason Becca hadn't been allowed to see Beth in the hospital, the same reason she had never seen the picture of the bright pink baby Puck kept in his wallet. Becca had been kept away because they all knew she would get attached instantly, and no one could bear to break the girl's heart along with their own. Puck was going to kill her.

Just as Aly was about to drag Becca out of there and not look back, Shelby looked up from watching the two little girls giggle at each other, "I'm glad we ran into you, I was going to try to get in touch with Quinn and Noah. I know first hand how hard it is to be kept away from your child, and I was hoping we could work out a way for them to still be in Beth's life." She said sincerely, then, after digging around in her purse for a second, she pulled out an envelope and held it out to Aly. "Here are some pictures of Beth, our address and phone number are written on the front of the envelope. I'd appreciate it if you could give it to Noah and ask him to call me, if he's interested, no pressure."

Aly hesitantly took the envelope from Shelby's outstretched hand, "Are you sure about this? Because there is no way I'm going to get Puck's hopes up if you're just going to back out later. Losing his daughter broke him once, I won't let that happen again."

"I'm completely serious about my offer, I give you my word, I won't change my mind." Shelby promised with such conviction that Aly had no choice but to believe her. "Rachel and Beth are the only family I have. I don't want Beth growing up like that, with just me, she deserves to have family all around her. I want to make sure she gets that."

"Okay," Aly nodded, "okay, I'll give it to him; you'll probably be hearing from him soon. In fact, I would be surprised if he called you tonight." Shelby smiled genuinely, hooked her purse back on the handle of the stroller, and turned as if to walk away. Before Aly could stop herself she said, "And Shelby, I've watch Mrs. Puckerman be a single mother for years, I know how hard it can be. If you ever just need some time to yourself, I'm free Saturdays, I'd be happy to take her for the day."

"I'd like that, and I'm sure Beth would too. I'm sure we'll be seeing each other soon, Aly, Becca." And with that she turned the stroller and walked farther into the store.


End file.
